Just Sit Back & Knit

Three Months Old...No, Wait...Four Months Old

Our sweet girl is three months old. I feel busier now than I did six weeks ago, strange though it may seem. I guess it is partly because I am now able to get out more with Junah and so my expectations for what I can accomplish have grown. Things don't always get done, though. There is always laundry, especially since we're using cloth diapers. Sometimes I manage to get the dishes done, but while I'm making dinner, so the dishes pile right up again. My husband does as much as he can while working six days a week. He is still the cleaner of the bathroom for which I am very grateful. And the fact that I am still home with my daughter means so much to me, and it is a gift that he is giving to our family.

We were just talking tonight, after I managed to get our over-tired girl to sleep by nursing her in the sling, about how glad we are that I didn't have to go back to work six weeks ago. It seems to me impossible that anyone can do it, at least with a first baby. I feel like we are still trying to get our feet under us, and can't imagine both of us coming home from work, after a long day, and trying to get everything done and still care for our child. Who is just so sweet...

I have managed to squeeze in some knitting time,
which is good, because I went a little overboard
with my knitting acquisitions last month.

Several great books and some Knitpicks needles

Several balls of Peaches 'n Creme, that I just had to order after
getting Mason Dixon Knitting from the library. I really
want to get some Euroflax linen yarn now, too, but that is a bit
more than $1.50 a ball.)

Cascade 220 Superwash for socks (The brownish color
was for my father-in-law's Cinco de Mayo birthday). I vow to
never again make socks that are handwash only. Too much work (for the sock washer).

Lots and lots of luscious Malabrigo in one of the new, true
solids, Chestnut. I'm finally going to make that hourglass
sweater for myself.

And, since I understand that Malabrigo is something of
the poor woman's Manos, I've got to try the real thing.
Three skeins to make a winter sweater for Junah.

This is my haul from Jimmy Bean's Wool. Four skeins
of Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton in Sand for a simple
cardigan for Junah. I've knit up all the pieces, it took less
than two skeins, but have yet to sew it up. I started but need
to redo what I've got done because it just doesn't look good.
Hopefully I'll finish it before she grows out of it. And I've been
longing to make the denim pants from Last Minute Knitted
Gifts since I first purchased the book (before I was even
pregnant) and finally have the yarn. It's Rowan Denim in the
color called Nashville. I also ordered the one skein of Lorna's
Laces Shepherd Sock shown in Cranberry. The other two
skeins I already had in my stash. I'm thinking of the chevron
scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

And I love extra goodies. These are the little treats
I received with my Jimmy Bean's Wool order. Candies
and a color card for the Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton.
Nice, thanks Jimmy Bean's.

---

So, all of those purchases and here it is, a month later, my daughter is now sixteen weeks old, and what have I done? Still not sewn up the cardigan, worked a few rounds on the pants, and let pretty much everything else languish while I increased another stash. My fabric stash, that is. I've been sewing. And loving it. My little diningroom, or a third of it, to be more accurate, has been transformed into a sewing room. My sewing machine is sharing space on our diningroom table with our microwave and I've moved our telephone stand to make room for my ironing board. It's a tiny little space for sewing, but it works.

I've purchased diaper flannel, birdseye and PUL to make cloth diapers and covers; linen and cotton for skirts for me and outfits for Junah, and a nearly unmentionable amount of accessories to make sewing faster, easier and more fun. The accessories category includes the book Sew What? Skirts. I love wearing skirts, especially during the summer when it gets so hot here. Shorts are okay but I increasingly feel like it is hard to find flattering shorts, especially if I expect them to cover my bum (I accidentally purchased a pair of shorts at Target that have "lowest rise" emblazoned on the inside of the waistband, and let me tell you, it is a good thing that shirt hems have dropped recently...).

So, skirts. Love the book. I've made two skirts from it and it is so easy! The first skirt I made was an elastic waist A-Line that was a little roomier than I like. I tend to over compensate, I think. But better than too small. The second skirt has become my all time favorite skirt in the world. I've worn it three or four times in the week since I finished it. Actually, the first time I wore it I hadn't even finished the hem but was so in love with it that I wore it anyway (although I didn't leave my house). I used to have a love-hate relationship with the color red. My mother loved it and I hated it. A lot of my clothes were red. I remember a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt I got for Christmas one year...all red. Hated. And what has happened since? Well I was inexplicably drawn to the bolt of red linen (a linen rayon blend actually) at the fabric store. I just had to have some. And now, my favorite skirt? Red. All red.

And, I have to say, I don't think the pictures do this skirt justice. For this skirt I eschewed the bulky elastic waistband for the slightly harder (but still easier than I originally thought) zippered, faced waist. Love. Oh, love. Love so much I took apart my first skirt and put in a zipper and facing. And I have plans for more...

---

But first I need to finish a dress I'm making for this sweet girl...Talk about love.

My Journey to Christmas

This picture is installment one.
Since I am not sure exactly who reads this blog
I am going to be taking pictures that show almost nothing
of the gifts I am making!

I sucessfully ordered the rest of the yarn I need for gifts today, thanks Barb for the help.  I know it seems terribly late, but I am a blissfully-ingnorant-of- reality-opptomistic-procrastonator (say that three times fast - even once is hard for me - I can't even spell it).  Also the gifts I am making are mostly quick projects.
Because I could not help myself  I ordered a hank of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Midnight for myself.  Just because.  Because it looks beautiful.  Because even if I never knit myself a shawl with it I will love to touch it.  Because even if I do knit myself a shawl with it and never wear it because I don't wear shawls, I will have made something beautiful and luscious just for myself.

I just watched The Lake House last night, and with the complete opposite opinion of Barb's - I loved it.  Funny thing:  Jim did too.

I'm Crazy and I'm Packing a Yarn Swift

I feel like I've moved up a rung on the knitter's ladder (of commitment? obsession?) and this box proves it:

Moments after receiving this package I was setup to try out my new yarn swift and yarn ball winder:

The result of which is a picture I like to call Still Life with Yarn Cake and Fruit:

And less than an hour later the yarn cake had multiplied:

And, because I just couldn't help myself, I yarn ball winder-ed all of this Karabella Aurora 8 that I've decided to let my husband sell on e-bay (unless someone wants to put in a bid on it first? If so, e-mail me at bgtworkman at gmail dot com).

I wonder how much extra knitting time I'll get because of yarn winding time saved...

It Really Is All About The Yarn

Back to work today...and I have just as much to do as yesterday!  So, as part of my work busy-work, I checked out a few Autocad websites (I'm a drafter).  And when you click on a link to visit an Autocad Blog and read:

AutoCAD Yarn Sale

and get excited instead of being confused about what the hell it means...you know it is officially all about the yarn for you. And then you get sad because you blink and see that it really reads:

AutoCAD Yard Sale

because it can't be all about the yarn for everyone, I suppose.

No More Sweet Tarts!

There is either something seriously wrong with my mouth, or sucking on too many sweet tarts (I just can't stand the spelling sweeTARTs) has flayed the skin off of the back of my tongue. I've got to give up the sweet tarts. After I'm done with this one, last roll.

Work is excruciatingly boring today. I told my boss that I had nothing to work on and he said he would, "Rustle something up." Several hours of I'm-trying-to-keep-myself-busy busy work (interrupted by one very necessary ten minute break) later, I began interspersing my work-busy work with getting things of my own done.

This involved

• emailing Joann.com and letting them know that it is very frustrating to track a shipment (after you've been told it shipped) on UPS.com for FIVE days and seeing only "Billing information received." Which means, dear reader, that Joann hasn't actually handed my little 4.8 pound package over to the nice man in the brown pants. Despite the fact that said package is, apparently, taped up and addressed to your's truly, and just waiting to begin its journey to my doorstep.
• finding a new (to me) blog to read. Check out Two Left Needles. Umm, and my shawl? Yeah, check out her's. And, if you're getting (back) into a sock knitting obsession (like I am--post about that is forthcoming), look at her Hansel & Gretal socks.
• repeatedly checking e-mail for response from Joann.com--in vain.

Finally, able to stand it no longer, i took lunch and picked up my premium at my local NPR member station. Yipee!! A new Amy Goodman book!

So, now I have to cram all of my fun stuff, and lunch, into a too short amount of time before returning to work to twiddle my thumbs.

Fortunately, I can knit and read at the same time.

Postscript: I wrote this post in my journal while on my lunch break. I went back to work and spent fifteen minutes in the bathroom due to some unfortunate reaction by my body to some food I had eaten. If I had actually had any work to do, or had gotten more sleep last night, or felt better able to resist the call of the yarn, I probably could have toughed the rest of the day out at work. But, alas, instead I chose to come home, put on my pajamas, type this post up, knit and cherish each and everytime my baby's foot (hand?) connects directly with my bladder.

Post-postscript: Two sweet tarts were eaten during the writing of this post.

10 Minute Break

I've returned to the land of bad cell phone pictures.  I'm no longer able to resist the call of the yarn while at work.  Fortunately, I've managed to restrict myself to knitting on my breaks.  For the most part. 

I Love Three Day Weekends

I had a lovely, busy weekend. Saturday afternoon Sara (aka fletchersmama) hosted a great barbecue at her ever-so-cute house (that has the most wonderful knitting/craft room). We had a lot of fun despite the fact some horses tried to eat me and several small children. Don't worry, we're all safe. My husband, brother and dad laughed at my frantic gathering of children and cries of, "Move, move! Drop the frogs! The horses are coming!" but also helped to calm said horses and kept them otherwise occupied as I and several teary eyed (they wanted to continue gathering frogs from the pond) youngsters slipped out the gate. Then everyone including the kids laughed at me as I shook and said, "Dad, they really were going to get us weren't they? They were scary, right?" And I even ate a hot dog which is generally not on my list of acceptable foods.

Sock Update:
In knitting news, the socks are complete! Or they were. Here they are after I spent the time it takes to watch six movies finishing them:

And these feet have never been happier:

Jason wore the socks from the time I handed them over on Sunday until he took his shower Monday morning. He struggled a bit getting one of the socks off over his heel and ripped right through the bound off edge. I didn't have the stomach to snap a picture of the unravelling upper edge, so no picture of the tragedy yet. I just can't believe that I have more work to do on these things!

Weekend Cast-Ons:
I've finally ordered the Cash Iroha #8 for the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. As reported previously, I bought one skein of the beautiful yarn at my local yarn shop a couple of weeks ago, and this weekend finally allowed myself to begin swatching (I made myself wait until the socks were finished--this swatch was worked during the sixteen hours in which they were finished). Since this sweater is knit in the round, I cast on for a sleeve as my swatch. I also wanted to see how the hem worked and to decide whether or not to knit the part that gets turned under on smaller needles (yes). This yarn is beautiful, soft and wonderful to work with. Love it. Here's what I've got so far:

In less promising starts, I worked on the Craftster Circular Shrug (pattern available in pdf form at Peony Knits) that I thought I wanted to make for myself. And I still may, however, I bought the wrong yarn. I bought Frog Tree Sportweight Alpaca (color 000) which is a beautiful, luscious, soft, amazing yarn. But. It does not want to be a Circular Shrug. It has told me so. It tried to tell me while I swatched different patterns for the center section. It tried to tell me again as I swatched for the seed stitch I settled on. And, finally, it began screaming at me as I stubbornly worked nearly six inches of ribbing on the actual shrug. What? You didn't think yarn could talk? Then you haven't read Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English (or maybe she talks about it in Knitting in Plain English). Yarn WILL tell you what it wants to be, or at least what it absolutely DOESN'T want to be. You just have to listen. Well, I'm listening. And hoping my local yarn store will let me exchange the six balls of unused yarn for something else**. And this, well, this will be FROGGED (hmmm...is there something in the name? Frog Tree?):

The only other knitting I did this weekend was on a new dishcloth; it's nearly complete but I haven't taken any pictures yet. I am making it from Sugar 'N Cream (I think, no ball band on it--all the 100% cotton yarn I have was purchased years ago) in a pale yellow and it's in my new favorite stitch--seed stitch. A really good one for a dishcloth too, I think.

A word about dishcloths. I don't have a dishwasher. A mechanical one anyway. What I do have is my own two hands. I hadn't made myself knitted dishcloths in years, until the recent green one (and another more recent green one that is so similar to the first I never posted about it). I can't believe how different it is using these as compared to store bought dishcloths. Somehow, I forgot what it was like. Now I know. Heaven. Dishwashing heaven. If you have to do dishes by hand and have never had a knitted dishcloth you are missing out. Seriously. And I recommend using kind of large needles for the yarn (US #9 or #10 in my case). The resulting fabric is great for washing dishes and dries quickly if you wring it out and stretch it a little. Trust me, they are worth it. Wow, I'm passionate about dishcloths! Go figure.

I also managed to put my garden in this weekend and was going to blog about it in this post, but as this post seems long enough already, I'll save that for another one.

** Normally I would just add this yarn to my stash, but seeing as how I I've already spent my entire yarn budget for this month (and next) and have a baby shower gift to make, I'll make the switch. I'll keep two balls of the Frog Tree--the one I started with and the one Ted got a hold of and carried around in his stinky dogbreath mouth.

I Survived the Yarn Store

So I made it in and out of the yarn store the other day with less than was on my list! I'm so proud of myself because after spending a ridiculous amount of money on a new nightstand last weekend and paying an Emergency Physicians Bill (remember my original injury that resulted in the inability to knit? Well did you know that when you go to the ER with what is considered pretty good health care they take $468 dollars from you (because "That's all we're allowed to charge you here, but it'll be more.") Then they send you another bill that you pay and a month later you get another bill that says "THIS IS NOT PART OF YOUR HOSPITAL BILL. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO PAY THIS BILL." at the top and you see that it's from The ER Physicians League (or somesuch name) and they also get to charge you a huge amount of money and you feel like you bled not just the sweet red life supporting stuff but also the sour green necessity of life stuff too. And you think it is no $@#$ wonder that nearly half of all bankruptcies in this country are the result of "illness or medical bills." Hmm, makes you think. Canada, anyone?)

So anyway, I managed to touch and gaze longingly at many items in that yarn store but left with only the following items: one magnetic snap (original reason for the yarn store trip), US #3 32" Addi Turbos, and one skein of the wonderful, soft, beautiful Noro Cash Iroha #8.

And apparently Nala only pretends to not like getting his picture taken (either that or he thinks yarn needs protection--from me!). Whatever the reason, here he is. So pretty.

Do you all sniff yarn? I do. I'm not a compulsive yarn sniffer--I don't do it in the store before I buy it or anything. I don't even sniff all of the yarn I buy. But some yarn is worth sniffing--Noro Cash Iroha for instance. This is good smelling yarn. Try it. Take a whiff of Noro next time you have the chance. Nice, huh?

And, oh boy, the new Addi Turbos are sure speeding up the sock knitting progress. I've barely had any time to work on them since buying the Addis but look, progress! And notice, huge foot!

Uh-Oh

I have a problem. I have to go to the yarn store. Yeah, I know, you're wondering what's the problem with that? I'm a knitter, I should love yarn stores. Oh yes, I do. And therein lies the problem. You see I need a snap--one of those magnetic kinds that are really easy to put in the lining of a purse like the purse I'm working on. Just one little snap and I can finish the purse and the purse can close and everything will be hunky-dory. Hah. Go to the yarn store for one snap? Me? Hmmm. Of course I can easily go to the yarn store for one snap. It's leaving the yarn store with just one snap that's the problem.

You see my mind is already figuring out ways to justify other purchases. It is, in fact, figuring out reasons why it would be almost a crime against humanity or the knitters code of ethics or yarn store etiquette to not buy more than one snap.

1. Gas prices: The yarn store is across town--should I really spend the gas for just one snap? Better think of all the other things I could possibly ever need and buy all of them too.
2. Local Businesses: I've been doing my yarn shopping online lately--it's only fair that I should compensate my out of town spending buy rewarding the LYS for being local.
3. Wal-mart: This one could just be lumped in with the item above but it seems too important. Wal-mart is trying to come to my town and one justification for it is the sales-tax revenues. If I spend a lavishly at the local yarn store I'll be contributing to the sales tax revenue and hopefully Wal-mart won't be seen as a necessity.
4. Love: I have it for yarn.

To complement my justification of other purchases I've come up with a list of possible other purchases. Lists are good; they make me feel like I'm not just on a crazy spending spree with no plan. I like a plan for my crazy spending spree.

1. One skein of Noro's Cash Iroha in #8. This way I can swatch for the Hourglass sweater I want to make before dumping a whole boatload of money down for the sweater. And yes, I know that one skein could give me dye lot problems in the future, but I'll work that out later...
2. A really long #3 Addi Turbo circular needle. I love my Crystal Palace DPNs but I'm quickly become an Addi Lover too. I could finish those damn Cascade Fixation socks I gave my husband for his birthday (almost a month ago) a lot faster with the magic loop method on Addis.
3. Extra doodads. I really love all the knitting doodads: tapestry needles, row counters, stitch holders, stitch markers, etc.
4. One of those fold in on itself baskets. Honestly, I don't love these baskets but they seem like requisite knitter thing that I might get one.

   Hmm...the possibilities are endless...lunchtime nears...we'll see what I end up with.

So little to do, so much time... Reverse That!

I have been waiting for the right time to sit down and contribute to our blog.  There is no right time!  Every time I sit down, my little monkey boy starts climbing all over me and the chair!!!!!!  Now I have so much to talk about I will have to break it up to get it all said.

We've have a busy few weeks.  Easter was lots of fun up in Bellingham, Washington.  We had a great visit with Grandpa Bob, Grandma Melinda, Aunt Katie, Uncle Josh and Janie, we missed Uncle Bobby who is in Europe and on Easter went to the Vatican to see the Pope!:

Grandp, Fletch, Grandma and Janie

Big brother and Little Sister
              Jim and Katie

Josh and Janie

All the kids (big and little)
     playing at the park
Fletch, Janie, Josh and Jim

Grandma Melinda took Fletch and I on a shopping spree, which included the local yarn store and toy store!  She and Katie are both starting to knit and though they claim to be begginers, they move alot faster than I did at the begginning! 

The bunny slippers were a hit with all, and I really enjoyed making them.  The pattern was easy and quick, a favorite type for me:
   
I need to add some suede to Fletcher's, Grandma was talking
about doing the same for Janie's after Fletch went sliding
onto his butt on the hardwood floor!
   

Also:

No, it's not more knitted monsters!
It's Lamb Sheep's Pride Burly, in two of the very brightest colors Fletch could find on our little shopping spree with Grandma Melinda.  Thank-you Fletch.  I never ever thought I would knit anything in these colors!  Let alone a sweater for my dear one!  He choose them, and so they are to be:
 
My very first work on a sweater and with fair ilse too!
It's very exciting and much more fun than I expected.  The
pattern called for three colors, but I decided to alter it for just
two, I could not imagine what other color Fletch might have
thrown into the mix!   Thank-you Fletch, really,  for pushing
me to try something new!

         My super model! 
Wearing a drop-stitch scarf I
   completed the other day.

And Easter morning:

Today I am greatful for the never
ending patience my chocolate
loving Easter bunny-boy  showed
me while I knitted (guilt free since I
cleaned my house top to bottom
yesterday) almost two feet of a
new scarf to sell!!